Using digital services on others’ behalf will be easier in 2024

This year, many wellbeing services counties will enable you to authorise a trusted person to use pharmacy services and digital social and health care services on your behalf. In places listed by your wellbeing services county, you can grant a mandate when visiting in person. The mandate will then be saved in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations.

The new service is assisted authorisation for Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. It is meant for people who do not have online banking IDs or a mobile certificate for identifying themselves in electronic services.

With Suomi.fi e-Authorizations, you can check information about benefits and health care, make appointments, apply for benefits or social services in the services of Kela and wellbeing services counties, and more. Slightly different service options are planned for the digital services of different wellbeing services counties.

Manage your loved ones’ affairs in digital services

The service aims to ensure equal opportunity for different groups of people to operate in a digital society. At the moment, handling affairs may require visiting in person during office hours.

- It takes a lot of effort, also from family members and support persons. The new service is one important step that makes it easier to handle health-related affairs on behalf of and with a loved one, explains Sanna Suomalainen-Ajanko, Senior Specialist at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

The ability to check basic information and handle affairs in the digital service saves time for citizens, their loved ones and the care staff of wellbeing services counties.

About half a million people have been excluded from digital services that make everyday life easier. These people include some elderly people, persons with disabilities, persons under guardianship, people without requisite language skills, and people with substance abuse and mental health issues.

New service available in several wellbeing services counties by the end of 2024 – wellbeing services counties aim for resource savings and a higher quality of service 

The service was piloted by the Kainuu wellbeing services county in 2022. Plans for launching the service in the first half of this year are already well underway in the wellbeing services counties of Central Ostrobothnia, South Ostrobothnia and Pirkanmaa. The service will also be piloted for a certain period in the North Karelia wellbeing services county.

In addition, the wellbeing services counties of South Savo, Satakunta and Kymenlaakso are interested in launching the service towards the end of the year.

- We want to make acting on behalf of another person easier and also make it accessible for people who don’t have digital identification tools, like online banking IDs. The target group is not a big one, but it is growing, considering our aging population, says Project Manager Tanja Witick from Soite.

Wellbeing services counties see many advantages in the service. The most important one is higher-quality interaction with service users and their loved ones. When family members can check social welfare and health care matters directly from e-services, it allows them to better stay up to date on benefit decisions, care plans, prescriptions and more. This ensures that any necessary steps get taken for benefits and that the continuity of care is maintained at home.

The service also makes it quicker for personnel at service homes and support persons in social services to access services on behalf of their clients. During a client meeting, support persons can work on benefit applications or make doctors’ appointments together with their client; they no longer have to call services or visit them in person.

Acting on behalf of another person is easier with Suomi.fi e-Authorizations

Suomi.fi e-Authorizations is a service produced by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. It allows individuals and organisations to safely grant mandates so that authorised persons can handle their affairs at pharmacies, services offered by Kela and the Tax Administration, and the services of some wellbeing services counties, municipalities and private social welfare and health care service providers.

In the past, granting a mandate has required strong identification, which in practice means having online banking IDs, a mobile certificate or a citizen certificate.

In addition to wellbeing services counties, a mandate can also be granted by visiting the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or by submitting a mandate application.